Cervical cancer and human papillomavirus: South African guidelines for screening and testing

Cervical carcinoma is still the most common cancer of women the African continent. Mortality remains high – worldwide at 50% – mainly because of late presentation, advanced stage of and absence of a functioning screening process. The link between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection cervical cancer has been well established and a number of -risk HPV genotypes have been identified. HPV infection is most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the world – up to 80% of sexually active females will harbour HPV at point in their lives. The majority of women will experience elimination of HPV infection because of an intact immune . Persistent infection with a high risk type HPV puts women high risk to develop precursors of cervical cancer or carcinoma . As part of a public health response to this serious problem, HPV vaccines are under development. Use of vaccines still unanswered questions in many respects.